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Mary & Elizabeth
Emily Purdy
Contents
Prologue
The End of an Era
1
Mary
2
Elizabeth
3
Mary
4
Elizabeth
5
Mary
6
Elizabeth
7
Mary
8
Elizabeth
9
Mary
10
Elizabeth
11
Mary
12
Elizabeth
13
Mary
14
Elizabeth
15
Mary
16
Elizabeth
17
Mary
18
Elizabeth
19
Mary
20
Elizabeth
21
Mary
22
Elizabeth
23
Mary
24
Elizabeth
25
Mary
26
Elizabeth
27
Mary
28
Elizabeth
29
Mary
30
Elizabeth
31
Mary
32
Elizabeth
33
Mary
34
Elizabeth
35
Mary
36
Elizabeth
37
Mary
38
Elizabeth
39
Mary
40
Elizabeth
41
Mary
42
Elizabeth
43
Mary
44
Elizabeth
45
Mary
46
Elizabeth
47
Mary
48
Elizabeth
49
Mary
50
Elizabeth
51
Mary
52
Elizabeth
Postscript
A Reading Group Guide
Discussion Questions
About the Author
Other Books by the Same Author
Copyright
About the Publisher
PROLOGUE
The End of an Era
January 28, 1547
Whitehall Palace
Wonderful, dangerous, cruel, and wise, after thirty-eight years of ruling England, King Henry VIII lay dying. It was the end of an era. Many of his subjects had known no other king and feared the uncertainty that lay ahead when his nine-year-old son inherited the throne.
A cantankerous mountain of rotting flesh, already stinking of the grave, and looking far older than his fifty-five years, it was hard to believe the portrait on the wall, always praised as one of Master Holbein’s finest and a magnificent, vivid and vibrant likeness, that this reeking wreck had once been the handsomest prince in Christendom, standing with hands on hips and legs apart as if he meant to straddle the world.
The great gold-embroidered bed, reinforced to support his weight, creaked like a ship being tossed on angry waves, as if the royal bed itself would also protest the coming of Death and God’s divine judgment.
The faded blue eyes started in a panic from amidst the fat pink folds of bloodshot flesh. As his head tossed upon the embroidered silken pillows a stream of muted, incoherent gibberish flowed along with a silvery ribbon of drool into his ginger-white beard, and a shaking hand rose and made a feeble attempt to point, jabbing adamantly, insistently, here and there at the empty spaces around the carved and gilded posts, as thick and sturdy as sentries standing at attention, supporting the gold-fringed crimson canopy.
There was a rustle of clothing and muted whispers as those who watched discreetly from the shadows – the courtiers, servants, statesmen, and clergy – shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders, knowing they could do nothing but watch and wonder if it were angels or demons that tormented their dying sovereign.
The Grim Reaper’s approach had rendered Henry mute, so he could tell no one about the phantoms that clustered around his bed, which only he, on the threshold of death, could see.
Six wronged women, four dead and two living: a saintly Spaniard, a dark-eyed witch – or “bitch” as some would think it more apt to call her – a shy plain Jane, a plump rosy-cheeked German hausfrau absently munching marzipan, and a wanton jade-eyed auburn-haired nymph seeping sex from every pore. And, kneeling at the foot of the massive bed, in an attitude of prayer, the current queen, Catherine Parr, kind, capable Kate who always made everything all right, murmuring soothing words and reaching out a ruby-ringed white hand, like a snowy angel’s wing, to rub his ruined rotting legs, scarred by leeches and lancets, and putrid with a seeping stink that stained the bandages and bedclothes an ugly urine-yellow.
Against the far wall, opposite the bed, on a velvet-padded bench positioned beneath